


I'll Be Up With The Sun

by cmon_eileen



Category: U2 (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 04:34:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17573969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmon_eileen/pseuds/cmon_eileen
Summary: A morning before Adam has to leave for some unspecified place, a sweet temporary goodbye





	I'll Be Up With The Sun

It’s a beautiful, timeless paradise that Adam lies within here. He’s encased in soft clouds, golden with the sun’s warm embrace, and floating on angel’s breath. His subconscious dominates his conscious, worried mind, and everything is good here, safe and interconnected and intertwined while time meanders back and forth. It pulls back with an inhale that makes the sky swell, dipping back into past pleasures and spending a million years there in only a minute, and the next moment it’s swinging forward, and then stops, abruptly, and begins to progress as usual.

The jarring sound of the alarm puts a sudden stop to paradise, and when Adam opens his eyes the honey-rimmed clouds are gone and a pale grey light fills the room, filtering in through atmosphere and glass and flimsy curtains. Larry stirs against Adam and he reaches over to turn off the alarm.

And then the transition is over, and both of them are back in the waking world, from one realm to the next. Larry’s eyes are still closed, but Adam can tell he’s not sleeping. His chest rises and falls under Adam’s cheek, the thundering heartbeat barely an inch beneath his ear, separated only by muscle and tissue and bone. 

Adam stays there for another long minute, or a few minutes, listening, holding his breath to make way for Larry’s just because he finds so much comfort in the sound. He has to leave soon, has to go out and face the world where taxi cabs await, and then planes and shuttles and busses and boats and hot air balloons and submarines and spaceships, all working to the same effect, just to distance him from Larry. 

“I have to go,” he tells him, his voice breaking in and out of a whisper, and Larry just lets out a low affirmative hum, like he doesn’t like it any more than Adam does, but he knows, he knows.

Adam makes a move to get up but Larry seems to change his mind and the arm resting on Adam’s back pulls him closer, the hand on his shoulder tightening. “Just stay another minute,” he murmurs, and Adam doesn’t try to argue, just wraps both his arms tightly around Larry, holding him tight and close. Vaguely he counts down in his head, a minute.

50 more seconds, he tilts his face into Larry’s chest, breathes in deep, buries himself there.

40 seconds, he feels Larry’s hand on his back, rubbing slowly, inhabiting the space between the back of Adam’s shoulder and his neck, slowly working up to just beneath his ear and back down, touch, touch.

20 seconds and Adam wants to feel every one of them. Another second goes by, he loves him. Another second, he loves him.

4, 3, 2, 1, and nothing changes. The vague approximation of a minute is up and Adam can’t bring himself to move, letting it linger for another moment. It takes three, four more breaths before he begrudgingly retracts his arms from around Larry and sits up to face the cold, feeling Larry’s eyes on his bare back. 

He stands, leaving Larry laying there peaceful, a few hours of sleep ahead of him still, while Adam steps into the bathroom. The mirror is positioned so his own reflection is inescapable nearly anywhere in the room. He looks at himself, tilts his head this way and that, wonders how he looks when his eyes are distant and unfocused. This is what Larry sees, he thinks, this is what he gets. 

He walks back out and quietly goes about putting on some clothes, stuffing everything into his suitcase. He travels light. It shouldn’t take so long, but he can feel Larry silently watching him the whole time, and he doesn’t want that to end. 

Minutes go by. There’s some kind of transportation awaiting him a few stories below, now, and it’s no longer reasonable to stall. Adam steps to beside Larry, gently carding his fingers through Larry’s hair. His tired eyes open and turn upward to gaze on at Adam, not insinuating anything in his look, just to observe. Adam’s hand falls and he grazes the back of his knuckles ever so gently against Larry’s cheek, soft skin and bits of stubble under his fingers.

Larry takes him by surprise when he takes ahold of Adam’s hand and carefully brings it closer to his mouth. Adam’s fingers spread and mold to the shape of Larry’s face, and Larry just nuzzles against it, pressing a soft kiss to Adam’s palm. 

Adam lets out a short, affectionate huff, and Larry looks up at him, at his eyes, through his eyes, it feels. “I love you,” Larry says quietly, but so sincerely and confidently. Adam always lets him say it first. He’s come to learn that too much affection will scare Larry off, and he’s had to curb himself away from his urges more than once to give Larry the control he needs. It’s taken a lot of work, and patience, but the payoff is moments like this, when every touch conveys magnitudes and their love for each other hangs heavy in the air. 

“I love you too,” Adam responds, and feels Larry smile beneath his palm, only reaffirming how worth it everything they’ve gone through has been. Adam feels so lucky to have him.

“I really have to go now,” Adam says, regrettably. 

Larry sighs, holding Adam’s hand for another moment before letting him go. “Get out of here,” he jokes. Adam smiles.

He picks up his bags, pushes open the door, pauses in the doorway. “We’ll see each other again soon,” he says, a consolation and a promise.

“Of course we will,” Larry says, like it’s the most obvious thing ever. To him, it is. There’s always some kind of invisible force drawing them to each other. There’s tension when they’re drawn farther and farther apart, the natural order of things is for them to be together.

A backward glance, a shared smile, and he leaves, to be back soon, no doubt, the world can keep them apart, but never for long.


End file.
